Teaching Week 2 and I Finally Unpacked My Suitcases!

On Monday, I ended up taking a trip to St. Etienne for the day because I had to turn in some paperwork to the lady in charge of all the primary assistants. So I took a train from Roanne to St. Etienne (which is like a little over an hour away). I had no idea where this lady’s office is and she didn’t really give me clear directions...Luckily my friend Emilia met up with me at the train station and agreed to show me where it was. We took the tram in St. Etienne to a cool boulangerie where I got a sandwich and a chocolate beignet for lunch.

Awesome lunch with Emilia!

Then we took the tram again and this time it was packed full of people. I swear it felt like I was at UGA again riding a packed Orbit bus through campus lol. Anyways, then Emilia showed me the office so I went up there and turned in the papers. I was glad to have that out of the way! Then I met up with Emilia at a mall nearby which we decided to explore. It had four stories and the fourth one had an outdoor area! It was really cool! The roof of the mall had kind of a secret garden with trees and grass! It seemed like a pretty cool place to come and just chill.

on roof of the mall

roof of the mall

This mall also had plants inside the mall in the hallways between shops. I feel like there are just more plants here in France in general. 

Look at all this green at the mall!

Then I went to Emilia’s apartment for a cup of tea and we chatted with her roomie. I had vanilla black tea. It was really good and it smelled exactly like vanilla budyń (which is a Polish pudding). So after hanging out for a bit, I took the tram back to the train station. Then, I took a train back to Roanne around 5 because I have to be up early for classes Tuesday morning.

Tuesday was my first day at another new school. It was a shame that I couldn’t show my powerpoint at this school today because their projector is broken. I just presented myself to the class and then took their questions. I will write down their questions at the end of this blog as well because I got some interesting ones again :). So at this school I will be working with four different classes. The first class was with a group of kids who were about 9/10 years old. They were my first class that was not very talkative... In all of my other schools the kids asked so many questions. I’m guessing maybe they were still sleepy because it was the first class of the day. It might also have been because they didn’t get to see the powerpoint with all my pictures on it (usually pictures are good conversation starters). I’m hoping next time they will be more talkative. 

The second class I intervened in was the principal’s class. Here in the primary schools in France, the  principals teach as well as perform their administrative duties. I don’t know how they do it all! Anyways, the principal was very excited to have me in her class. She told me that she wants to improve her english as well with my help. She loves hearing me pronounce things and she even takes notes of phrases I use in the classroom so that she can use them with the class as well. In this class, the kids were prepared with questions because the principal told them I was going to be here today. Then, we went over weather phrases with the students and they shared the ones that they already knew. After this class, the kids have a little recess break for 20 minutes. The principal took me to the teacher’s lounge where I had a cup of tea and some cookies (which looked like delicje-polish cookie with fruit jelly inside). After recess I had two more classes!

The third class I helped in was filled with 8 year olds. They were so cute!! The teacher in this class was also very nice and welcoming. I was surprised at how much english these kids knew already. Well there were two boys in the class who really showed off their english skills! These kids knew their colors, greetings, days of the week, alphabet, numbers, and parts of the body. The two little show off boys even came up in front of the class and sang the “head, shoulders, knees, and toes” song! They were really adorable with their french accents lol. 

In the fourth class, the kids were older (maybe 9/10) and they asked a decent amount of questions. We mostly spent the time discussing differences between schools in the US and schools in France. I think one of the biggest differences is that in France most primary schools have a two hour lunch break. Most french kids return home to eat lunch, and then they come back to school in the afternoon. Also, most elementary schools are closed on Wednesdays (although some schools started to open on Wednesdays so that they could have shorter school days during the week). The school I work at on Wednesdays has just started being open on Wednesday mornings this year (they only have school from 8 30-11 30am). Also, at this school, the kids have two recesses each day! They have one in the morning and one in the afternoon (appoximately 15-20 minutes each). 

Wednesday morning I worked in three classrooms. In the first classroom, we talked about how to answer, “How are you?” The kids also reviewed simple commands like: sit down, stand up, be quiet, listen, etc. They listened to a song called “Listen Carefully” which had all of these commands in the lyrics. Then I said the song and they repeated after me. Then, they got in little groups and each student took turns telling the other group members these english commands. The teacher and I walked around helping students with pronunciation during the activity. 

During the second class, I got to work with the same teacher which was cool. I reviewed the numbers 11-20 with these students and after we played a number bingo with these numbers. The kids all received a piece of paper with four numbers on it. One kid came up and said a number in english. Then if you had that number you would cover it up with  a little block. When someone has all of their numbers covered up they have to say all of their numbers in english. Then, it is that person’s turn to call out the numbers to the class. During this activity, I walked around and made sure everyone was understanding all of the numbers as they were being called. After the number activity, I read The Very Hungry Caterpillar to the class. Then, the kids retold the story in partners and we discussed what foods we like as a class. 

In the third class, we started off by reviewing some school supply vocabulary (I’m pretty sure the teacher has been teaching them British english so far lol...their english is about to become a mix of British/American english). Then, we talked about all of the countries in the world who consider english as a primary language. The kids then colored these countries on a map. After that, the teacher started to explain the history of Great Britain’s Flag? The teacher kept looking at me for reassurance as she was explaining the meaning of the flag...um I don’t know much about the flag honestly, so I just nodded and went along with it. I’m guessing her info about it was accurate. Then after the short history lesson, the kids colored a picture of the flag. For the next meeting, the teacher has asked me if I can discuss the meaning of the American Flag so that should be interesting. 

After school, I was waiting at the bus stop and I got recognized by one of my students! It was the first time that I saw a student outside of class. Then when I got back to the apartment, Kate and I decided to go for a run to the Loire River. We ended up seeing the little goat again! It was so cute!! After the run, we went to lunch at a pasta place called Pastassima with Kim. The pasta was really good and fun fact- it’s my friend Anna’s family restaurant! It was cool to talk to her parents and I can’t wait until Anna comes into town! After lunch, I bought a nutella crepe from a street vendor. It was really good!

Yummy crepe and cool candy store background

Then, we met up with Melissa in town because she came to run a few errands. We also met up with Jack, who is an english assistant from England. He showed us his apertment and we all had tea and coffee. Then we all went to carrefour to do some grocery shopping and I got recognized by another student! She kind of scared me a little because when she saw me she pointed and yelled, “American!! Hello!!” It was an interesting greeting lol. Later in the evening, we met up with some other assistants in the city. Our australian rugby friends Tim and Brad came out to meet up with us too. It was cool to all hang out. 

On Thursday I went to introduce myself at my last two schools where I will be teaching through Skype. I presented myself to the kids and then they asked me some interesting questions as usual lol. I have listed the questions at the end of the post just like last time :). 

At the first school, the kids had prepared introductions of themselves. They each had a turn presenting themselves in english (name, gender, birthday, age, siblings names, parents names, etc.). While one boy was presenting, he said, “I am a girl...” then the other kids started giggling so he quickly corrected himself...That’s an easy mistake to make. I know that on occasion I do the same thing in french lol (but only when I am talking about other people not myself haha). After the lesson, I had lunch with the teachers which was fun. I love how they always offer tea and coffee at the schools here! Its so nice and at this school, one teacher even had chocolate to share! yumm! During lunch, I talked to the teachers about differences in schools systems and just differences between the US and France. Of course the topic of obesity came up and one teacher thinks its partially because of all the peanut butter Americans eat...hmmm I never thought about it that way... but it is true that French don’t really eat peanut butter...

After lunch, I got picked up by the principal of the second school and I presented myself yet again. Then the kids asked me questions. One of the best had to be: “How do you say (insert very french name here) in english?” Every kid wanted to hear their name pronounced in english. They thought it was the coolest thing ever. Then they even started asking about their siblings names and parents names lol. 

More Questions that I got asked this week:

• “Have you been to NY?” (again they asked this many times… I really gotta go there, it seems to be the only state these kids care about lol)
• “Do they have tacos in the US?”
• “What do you miss from the US?”
• “What do you like about France?”
• “Do you like chocolate?”
• “What foods are in the US that are not in France?”
• “How did you get to France?”
• “How long was your flight?”
• “How did you get to school today?”
• “Have you visited all of France?”
• “Is your family in France now too?”

Housing Update: I finally have housing! I finally saw the adminstration today after work and they finally gave me the OK to the live in the apartment at the high school! Today I finally unpacked my suitcases! It was a glorious feeling! So now I am still living with Kate and Kim but now I have my own room! The other assistant(Fatima) that was living here before me, decided to move to an apartment at another high school (where she also works) so that I could have a room to myself. She is really awesome and I cannot thank her enough! I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else but this building! It feels so good to be unpacked and finally settling into life here in Roanne. 

Finally unpacked,

Magdalena